Mailbox Monday

I haven't done this in a few weeks and I've missed it! I've been away from blogging but I'm getting back to it. Thank you to everyone for being so kind and considerate. I'm getting back to reading and commenting on all of your terrific blogs too. I'm always impressed and I learn so much! I hope you all are having a wonderful summer so far. I love the sunshine and a good book. These are my newest titles and I'm really looking forward to reading them. If you'd like to join this fun meme stop by Mailbox Monday and leave a link where you have your books listed. Marcia is kind enough to host it each week. Happy Monday!

The Chosen One
by Carol Lynch Williams

won from Reviewer X

YA story about thirteen-year-old Kyra who has grown up in an isolated community where her father has three wives and she has over twenty siblings. She secretly sneaks to the mobile library to read forbidden books and spend time with Joshua, the boy she would chose for herself if she were allowed that freedom. Instead, the Prophet decrees that she must marry her sixty-year-old uncle who already has six wives. Now she must decide to continue on with this life that has been chosen for her or to leave her family forever.

Frenemies
by Alexa Young

won from Bookworm Reader

Book #1 in the YA series where Avalon rules the fashion scene at her SoCal middle school. She's determined to host the social event of the season for her friend Halley but Halley has changed more than just her look while away at Art Camp. When she returns anxious to show off her funky new look, Avalon declares it a fashion foul. Now they are at odds and are dividing up their friends and using secrets against each other. Best friends have become worst enemies. Frenemies.

Faketastic
by Alexa Young

won from Bookworm Reader

Book #2, from besties to worsties and back again. The girls must decide who are their true friends.





The Man's Book
by Thomas Fink

won from Bookin' With Bingo

The answers to every man's burning questions - from morning shave to whiskey nightcap. How to tie a bow tie, mix a martini and make a potato gun. How to build a tree house, carve a turkey and start a fire with a soda can. When to flatter a woman and how to be a better cook. This book celebrates maleness. Organized in a man-logical way, it's the go-to guide for anyone with a Y chromosome.



Two Years, No Rain
by Shawn Klomperans

for a summer reading series at TLC Book Tours
organized by Lisa at Books on the Brain

A debut novel about a weatherman in California who has the easiest job in the world since it hasn't rained in over 500 days. But sudden changes in his personal life have him ducking for cover. His wife has left him, he's lost his job, he his in a flirtatious relationship with a married colleague and he suddenly discovers fame as the host of a children's television show. A hilarious and moving story of self-reinvention.


Used Book Sale at Library

Barefoot
by Elin Hilderbrand

Weaves together the stories of four women's lives as they come together to relax, escape their problems and enjoy the sun in Nantucket.

Sugar Daddy
by Lisa Kleypas

She's from the wrong side of the tracks in a small Texas town. He is drawn to her but his ambitions pull him away to pursue his dreams elsewhere. She is left alone with a young sister to raise and meets up with a billionaire tycoon, a Sugar Daddy. But the relationship runs deeper and family secrets are revealed. Eventually she must decide between two men. A decision that could make or break her.

Review and Blog Tour: The Castaways by Elin Hilderbrand

The story...

Greg and Tess MacAvoy are one of four prominent Nantucket couples who count each other as best friends. As pillars of their close-knit community, the MacAvoys, Kapenashes, Drakes, and Wheelers are important to their friends and neighbors, and especially to each other. But just before the beginning of another idyllic summer, Greg and Tess are killed when their boat capsizes during an anniversary sail. As the warm weather approaches and the island mourns their loss, nothing can prepare the MacAvoy's closest friends for what will be revealed.

Once again, Hilderbrand masterfully weaves an intense tale of love and loyalty set against the backdrop of endless summer island life.

The author...

Elin Hilderbrand lives on Nantucket with her husband and their three young children. She grew up in Collegeville, PA, and traveled extensively before settling on Nantucket, which has been the setting for her seven previous novels. Hilderbrand is a graduate of Johns Hopkins University and the graduate fiction workshop at the University of Iowa.

Audio and Video

• Listen to an Excerpt

The review...

I am a sucker for any story about the beach and a beach cover gets my attention immediately! I was in luck with this one. This is perfect for a summer read. At first I thought this would be a cozy little story about couples sharing a beach house. I was so wrong. This is much darker and more complex. Four couples vacation together on the island of Nantucket. Their friendships span many years and they have formed close relationships. But tragedy strikes when one of the couples is killed in an accident. Tess and Greg MacAvoy had recently been plagued by scandal but they were working through it. They went sailing to celebrate their anniversary and mysteriously drowned. Now they are gone and have left behind two young children. What happened?

Each chapter of the book is told by a different character. As they tell their own story they also begin to reveal the many layers of the groups relationship. While they have loving, caring friendships they have many secrets as well. As they mourn the loss of Tess and Greg, conflicts begin to arise. The couples seem to remember an idyllic past but now they have troubled marriages. Grief has brought out so many emotions and these people will never be the same.

I enjoyed the way this was written and had to keep turning the pages to find out what would happen next. While these people strive for the "perfect" life as individuals they are far from that. I've read where others have described them as flawed and that is a very fitting description. While some of them aren't very likable the author has done a great job of building them through each chapter and making them real. It makes it so much easier to understand their actions and emotions and how difficult their lives have become. As they struggle with serious issues that include adultry and drug addiction, they do try to redeem themselves. This book is a great escape and will take you away to the island of Nantucket.

I also lucked out this week and found a gently used copy of her last novel Barefoot for sale at my library. I have been wanting to read that one as well so I snagged it!

Previous titles
A Summer Affair

Published on: Jul 01, 2008
Format
HARDCOVER BOOK

Barefoot

Published on: Jul 02, 2007
Format
HARDCOVER BOOK

Author's website and bookgroup
Elin Hilderbrand's Nantucket

Other tour sites
July 10
http://www.myspace.com/darbyscloset
http://kayespenguinposts.blogspot.com/
http://imbookingit.wordpress.com/
http://booksoulmates.blogspot.com/
http://www.morbid-romantic.net/
http://nisefunpages.blogspot.com/
http://tvandbookaddict.blogspot.com/
http://allisonsatticblog.blogspot.com/
http://frugalplus.com/
http://www.mgpblog.com/

Thank you to Miriam and Hatchette Books for allowing me to participate in this blog tour!

Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Date: 7/7/09
Pages: 368
Format/Type: hardcover/fiction
Price: $24.99

Winners of The Host contest!

Finally...
so sorry for the delay but I've chosen the three winners using Random.org

Dina
Gwendolyn B.
okbolover

Congratulations everyone and thanks so much for participating! More contests will be coming soon. I've sent emails to all of the winners. If you see this first you're welcome to contact me at:
5wrights1[at]verizon[dot]net
Please send me your mailing addresses so I can pass them on to the generous folks at Hatchette Books.

Holiday wishes...

MySpace Comments and 4th of July Comments

In loving memory of my cousin

Thank you all for your kind words, good wishes and prayers during this incredibly hard time for me and my family. My funny, sweet, kind, tough-as-nails cousin, Dawn Farrell, passed away at the age of 35 from a rare brain cancer on June 26th, 2009. She battled for 2 1/2 years and never gave up. It may sound cliche but she accomplished so much more in her years than most people do in a long lifetime. She was a bright, shining star and she left her mark on this world.

She is survived by her husband, a Major in the United States Marine Corp, four young children and many other family members and friends. We are having a service on the west coast where she lived, and the east coast where she was from, on the same day. She will never, ever be forgotten.

Don't cry because it's over,
smile because it happened.
- Dr. Seuss

Family update

My cousin, who I have mentioned several times here on my blog, has been in the hospital for almost 6 weeks now. She has been battling a very rare brain tumor for over 2 years and after her most recent surgery she started to experience complications. They have compounded with time and puzzled her doctors, family and friends. During the last week it became clear to all of us who love her that she would never be coming home again. She was placed on life support two days ago and when her doctors confirmed that her cancer had come back yet again, her amazing husband had to make the agonizing decision to remove it all last night. The extended family is all on the east coast and they live on the west coast but it might as well be a million miles away. At last report this afternoon she is still hanging on and fighting to the end. I wouldn't expect anything less from her. I always, always thought that she was going to win this battle. I guess she's going to go out on her own terms after all.

Review and Blog Tour: The Host by Stephenie Meyer

Description

Our world has been invaded by an unseen enemy. Humans become hosts for these invaders, their minds taken over while their bodies remain intact and continue their lives apparently unchanged. Most of humanity has succumbed.

When Melanie, one of the few remaining "wild" humans, is captured, she is certain it is her end. Wanderer, the invading "soul" who has been given Melanie's body, was warned about the challenges of living inside a human: the overwhelming emotions, the glut of senses, the too-vivid memories. But there was one difficulty Wanderer didn't expect: the former tenant of her body refusing to relinquish possession of her mind.

When outside forces make Wanderer and Melanie unwilling allies, they set off on a dangerous and uncertain search for the man they both love.

One of the most compelling writers of our time, Stephenie Meyer brings us a riveting and unforgettable novel about the persistence of love and the very essence of what it means to be human.


Author Q & A

1. What inspired the idea for The Host?

The kernel of thought that became The Host was inspired by absolute boredom. I was driving from Phoenix to Salt Lake City, through some of the most dreary and repetitive desert in the world. It’s a drive I’ve made many times, and one of the ways I keep from going insane is by telling myself stories. I have no idea what sparked the strange foundation of a body-snatching alien in love with the host body’s boyfriend over the host-body’s protest. I was halfway into the story before I realized it. Once I got started, though, the story immediately demanded my attention. I could tell there was something compelling in the idea of such a complicated triangle. I started writing the outline in a notebook, and then fleshed it out as soon as I got to a computer. The Host was supposed to be no more than a side project—something to keep me busy between editing stints on Eclipse—but it turned into something I couldn’t step away from until it was done.

2. Did you approaching writing The Host, your first adult novel, differently than your YA series?

Not at all. Like the Twilight Saga (this is probably the only way The Host is like the Twilight Saga!), The Host is just a story I had fun telling myself. My personal entertainment is always the key to why a story gets finished. I never think about another audience besides myself while I’m writing; that can wait for the editing stage.

3. You have referred to The Host as being a science fiction novel for people who don't like science fiction. Can you explain why?

Reading The Host doesn’t feel like reading science fiction; the world is familiar, the body you as the narrator are moving around inside of is familiar, the emotions on the faces of the people around you are familiar. It’s very much set in this world, with just a few key differences. If it weren’t for the fact that alien stories are by definition science fiction, I wouldn’t classify it in that genre.

4. There is a lot of internal dialogue between Wanderer, the narrator and invading "soul", and Melanie, the human whose body Wanderer is now living inside. Each character has her own distinct voice and internal struggle. Was it a challenge to have the two characters, who essentially take up one body, stand on their own?

Wanderer and Melanie were very distinct personalities to me from day one; keeping them separate was never an issue. Melanie is the victim—she’s the one that we, as humans, should identify with; at the same time, she is not always the more admirable character. She can be angry and violent and ruthless. Wanderer is the attacker, the thief. She is not like us, not even a member of our species. However, she is someone that I, at least, wish I was more like. She’s a better person than Melanie in a lot of ways, and yet a weaker person. The differences between the two main characters are the whole point of the story. If they weren’t so distinct, there would have been no reason to write it.

5. Did any of the characters surprise you while writing?

I am constantly surprised by my characters when I write—it’s really one of my favorite parts. When a character refuses to do what I had planned for him or her, that’s when I know that character is really alive. There were several characters who caught me off guard with The Host. One in particular was slated for a bit part as the wingman to the villain. Somehow, he knew he was more than that, and I couldn’t stop him from morphing into a main love interest.

6. Your Twilight series has had a lot of crossover appeal for adult readers, do you think The Host will also appeal to your younger readers?

I’ve had a great deal of interest from my YA readers about the release of The Host. I have no doubt that they will continue to make up a core part of my readership. I love blurring the lines between the different genres and categories—because in my head, a good book won’t fit inside the lines. I hope that The Host continues to do what the Twilight Saga is doing: showing that a good story doesn’t belong to any one demographic.

7. How do you feel about the enormous success that you’ve had with the Twilight series? How has it changed your life?

I am continually shocked by the success of my books. I never take it for granted, and I do not count on it in my expectations of my future. It’s a very enjoyable thing, and I’ll have fun with it while it lasts. I’ve always considered myself first and foremost a mother, so being a writer hasn’t changed my life too much – except I do travel a lot more and have less free time.

8. What adult authors do you read?

I’ve been reading books for adults my entire life. Growing up I was an avid reader—the thicker the book, the better. Pride and Prejudice, Gone with the Wind, The Sword of Shannara, Jane Eyre, Rebecca, etc. I’m a huge fan of Orson Scott Card, and Jane Austen-- I can’t go through a year without re-reading her stuff again.


Review

I have to admit that sci-fi is not a genre that I'm usually drawn to. That doesn't mean that I wouldn't read it, it just depends on the story. I read the young adult Twilight series when it came out and while I wasn't always crazy about the story line I did enjoy Stephenie Meyer's writing. She made the pages fly by and I wanted to know what was going to happen next.

The same thing happened in this book. It took me a little while to get into it but once I did I was engrossed in the story. It's a large book but it went quickly. I had read other people's comments where they mentioned that it didn't seem like a sci-fi book once you started reading it. That was the same feeling I got. It's not that you forget that aspect, especially since it's about aliens invading humans' minds, but there is so much more to it. The relationships of the characters are quite complex and interesting. Melanie is the human and her body will become the host for Wanderer, a new soul. But Melanie doesn't give up and go away and she and Wanderer share one mind. Two species are intermingling in one body and that wasn't part of the plan. Wanderer begins to experience Melanie's emotions and memories and rather than destroy her they form a bond. When Melanie shares her worries about her loved ones Wanderer feels it too and they set off on a journey of survival, trying to adapting to their new world.

I was pleasantly surprised by this book. I cared about the characters and wanted to know what was going to happen to them. Meyer took an unusual idea and made it interesting. If you are a fan of her writing I think you will like this one as well.

Author's website - stepheniemeyer.com
Book website - thehostnovel.com


These are the blogs who are hosting for the rest of the month. Check them out!
6/22 bookingmama.blogspot.com
6/24 www.twilightmoms.com
6/25 ultimatebookhound.blogspot.com
6/26 http://www.bellasnovella.com/
6/27 http://www.icewarmth.com/
6/28 thetometraveller.blogspot.com
6/29 vampirewire.blogspot.com
6/30 http://patricias-vampire-notes.blogspot.com/

Thank you to Miriam at Hatchette Books for including me in this tour and for providing me with the books to giveaway in my contest.